The Illinois Supreme Court held that a second amendment challenge to Cook County’s ban on
assault weapons could proceed in circuit court and should not have been dismissed at the pleading
stage for failure to state a cause of action. No trial has yet occurred.

At issue is the constitutional validity of a Cook County ordinance enacted in 2006 and renamed
the Blair Holt Assault Weapons Ban in 2007. Various plaintiffs opposed to the ordinance filed a
preenforcement action seeking declaratory and injunctive relief based on their facial challenges to
the ordinance’s constitutionality. It was claimed that the ordinance violates due process because of
vagueness, denies equal protection, and is in violation of the right to bear arms, which is protected
by the second amendment to the United States Constitution. The defendants responded with a motion
to dismiss, which the circuit court granted. The appellate court affirmed the dismissal in 2011, and
the plaintiffs appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court.

In this decision, it was held that the dismissal of the complaint counts alleging denial of due
process and equal protection could stand, and the results reached in the courts below were upheld.
However, as to the second amendment issue, the supreme court took a different view. At this early
stage of the litigation, in the procedural posture of this case, it cannot be said conclusively whether
“assault weapons” as defined by the ordinance fall within or outside the scope of the rights protected
by the second amendment. This question requires an empirical inquiry that goes beyond the scope
of both the record in the current litigation and judicial notice. The supreme court said that, at this
point in the lawsuit, it cannot be said that no set of facts can be proved that would entitle the
plaintiffs to relief. Neither has the County had an opportunity to present evidence to justify a nexus
between the ordinance and the governmental interest it seeks to protect. Therefore, the circuit court’s
dismissal of the complaint count based on the second amendment was improper and was reversed,
as was that part of the appellate court’s judgment which affirmed the dismissal.

The cause was remanded to the circuit court of Cook County for further proceedings.